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Dillard ejected for throwing at batter

Dillard ejected for throwing at batter

5/20/12: Tim Dillard is ejected after throwing behind Jamey Carroll in the top of the ninth

By Adam McCalvy
/
MLB.com |

MILWAUKEE -- Tim Dillard, an amateur catcher turned professional pitcher, said he'd never been ejected from a game at any level before plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt ended his streak on Sunday.

Dillard was ejected two pitches into the ninth inning of the Brewers' 16-4 rout of the Twins when he fired a fastball behind Minnesota's Jamey Carroll. Wendelstedt ejected Dillard immediately and told Brewers manager Ron Roenicke he viewed the wayward pitch as retaliation for the three Milwaukee batters struck earlier in the game.

Dillard maintained his innocence.

"I pitch inside. I didn't think anything looked funny at all," Dillard said. "I had to ask [catcher Jonathan] Lucroy whether I was thrown out. Pitching in is part of my game, it's part of what I do. I don't throw at people."

Carroll said he heard a different story from Lucroy.

"I asked, 'What it was all about?' And what I heard Lucroy say was, 'Nyjer Morgan,'" Carroll said, naming one of the Brewers hit by a pitch earlier in the game. "And Hunter made us shut up and said, 'It's part of the game. Get in the box. Let's go.'

"So I really can't give you a definite [answer] because our conversation got cut off. I have no idea. You'd have to ask them over there. If they were angry about something, they can be angry. I don't know."

Said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire: "We had no reason to throw at Morgan. He didn't do anything to us. We pretty much stunk up the field today. We don't need to throw at anybody. I know we didn't throw at anybody."

The Brewers considered using shortstop Edwin Maysonet or center fielder Carlos Gomez in relief of Loe, but worried Gomez would hurt his arm trying to top the Twins' position player, Drew Butera, who pitched in the eighth and touched 94 mph on the stadium radar gun.

So Loe finished the inning and sealed a win that spared the Brewers a three-game sweep.

The Brewers and Twins will meet again on June 15-17 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brew Beat, and follow him on Twitter at @AdamMcCalvy. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.